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Is the "Blue Book" still useful?

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Dan

Is the "Blue Book" still useful?

I have a copy of the Smalltalk-80 "Blue Book"by Goldberg and Robson. I am a complete noob when it comes to Smalltalk but would like to learn about it by using Squeak. Aside from some notational differences, that I can adjust to, is the "Blue Book" still useful in any way?
Thanks for your time,

Dan

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Kirk Fraser

Re: Is the "Blue Book" still useful?

Hi Dan,

In my opinion, hard copy books aren't as useful anymore. To start learning Squeak, if you have already downloaded the latest all-in-one, execute it, click the Help button on the top menu bar, select Terse Guide to Squeak, and study, trying statements out in a workspace. If some class looks interesting like a Dictionary, you may want to study it in detail to see how the data structure works - that got me a job once.

Unfortunately there is no equally clear help item covering the less essential categories, classes, and packages included with the latest Squeak or hidden around in other Squeak derivatives. But once you've learned one class like Dictionary in detail, it will be easier to explore others. And if you need something you can't find like a class to access a webcam, just ask.

Kirk Fraser

On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 8:07 PM, Daniel Roe <[hidden email]> wrote:

I have a copy of the Smalltalk-80 "Blue Book"by Goldberg and Robson. I am a complete noob when it comes to Smalltalk but would like to learn about it by using Squeak. Aside from some notational differences, that I can adjust to, is the "Blue Book" still useful in any way?
Thanks for your time,

Dan

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David T. Lewis

Re: Is the "Blue Book" still useful?

In reply to this post by Dan

On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 11:07:47PM -0400, Daniel Roe wrote:
> I have a copy of the Smalltalk-80 "Blue Book"by Goldberg and Robson. I am a complete noob when it comes to Smalltalk but would like to learn about it by using Squeak. Aside from some notational differences, that I can adjust to, is the "Blue Book" still useful in any way?
> Thanks for your time,

Dan,

Yes, it is useful. I recommend reading it from cover to cover. Do not
expect our comtempory Squeak images to match the contents of the book,
because many things have changed. What has not changed are the core concepts
and design principles, and there is no better way to get an overview of
these than to read the original descriptions.

If you have an original copy of the Blue Book, you can list it on Ebay
and derive considerable value from it in that manner. But personally, I
would recommend just reading it and displaying it on your bookshelf.

Dave

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Casey Ransberger-2

Re: Is the "Blue Book" still useful?

In reply to this post by Dan

Answer is yes. A lot of things have changed since then, but the book documents a very valuable milestone in the evolution of the system.

Particularly the Smalltalk description on the interpreter VM is worth investigation.

Almost nobody in the Squeak community is using the Reenskaug MVC architecture, but industry is using it in other languages (or trying to) so that's worth a look, since it was the first implementation of the paradigm. These days, Trygve is doing something really cool called DCI, which is also worth a look.

Anyway as of now, the preferred document is usually the Blue Book, followed by the ANSI standard (which is not really a standard anyone cared much about.)

Neither will describe the current system, but they could both be useful for understanding how we got to the current system.

Ultimately, the trick is to learn how to interact with and understand the system as it has evolved up to the moment when you start changing it. But to get there, you might have some (un)learning to do.

HTH,

--C

On May 22, 2015, at 8:07 PM, Daniel Roe <[hidden email]> wrote:

I have a copy of the Smalltalk-80 "Blue Book"by Goldberg and Robson. I am a complete noob when it comes to Smalltalk but would like to learn about it by using Squeak. Aside from some notational differences, that I can adjust to, is the "Blue Book" still useful in any way?
Thanks for your time,

Dan

_______________________________________________
Beginners mailing list
[hidden email]
http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners

_______________________________________________
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[hidden email]
http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners